"Hyacinth, help me!" Skye called out. "My feet are stuck!"


    "Unstick your feet then!" Hyacinth yelled back.


    Skye groaned. Not so long ago, she thought that learning magic would be the best experience of her life. But here she was, humiliating herself in front of a crowd of eighteen people while trying to use her so-called gift. Somebody please shoot me, she thought, staring down at her frost-coated shoes so she wouldn''t have to stare at her audience. I can''t do this anymore—


    If you want, I can shoot you! An obnoxious voice echoed inside Skye''s brain. Skye, not knowing whether she should be grateful or freaked out, would''ve jumped if her feet weren''t trapped in a mound of ice. She scanned her eyes over the crowd to see if she could locate the voice''s source, and moments later, encountered a disturbing sight:


    It was a pigtailed girl with pink and black hair and bright colored eyes. She was staring at Skye in a terrifying manner, a menacing grin on her face. At that moment, Skye could only think one thing: I''m fucked. I''m totally fucked.


    Again, that same voice popped into Skye''s head. Just kidding! Wanna be friends?


    I guess? Skye mentally replied, not turning the girl down out of fear for her own life and sanity. Though it would be nice if you stopped staring at me like that. You''re freaking me out.


    Fine by me! The voice responded. Then the girl looked away, and the voice inside Skye''s head silenced.


    "Sky-ye!" Hyacinth shouted, bringing Skye back into her surroundings. "Are you still there?!"


    "Yes, yes I am!" Skye quavered. "I''m sorry, what happened?"


    "You were standing completely still, with a blank stare on your face, not registering a single word I''ve said!" Hyacinth recounted. "Why won''t you try pulling your feet out of that ice mound so we can continue?"


    Skye nodded. One by one, she yanked her knees up violently, freeing her feet from their icy trap but leaving her boots behind. Her socks, now wet, had slid off her heels and scrunched up at the soles of her feet, so she pulled them up and started her next mission: regaining her footwear. After a while, she managed to break both of her boots free from the mound, going back and forth between pulling on her boots and stomping on the ice until it shattered. With a shudder, she pulled both of her soggy boots on, her feet wet and numb from the cold. "Does this happen to other cryokinetics, or is it just me?" Skye asked. "Whenever I use my aura, the ice always sticks to my hands or feet."


    "I haven''t seen something like this before, but I''m sure it can be fixed," Hyacinth reassured her. "And by the way, we''re running out of time. We can only do one more skill together, so I''m letting you choose it."


    "Okay!" Skye replied, suddenly remembering an aura-related ability that she had read about and learned when she was ten. To this day it was her best skill, the one she was most proud of, but she wasn''t able to show it to anyone because of Cloudgate''s rules against magic. Now after all these years, this was her chance to finally reveal it. "Hailstorm!"


    "Hailstorm?" Hyacinth remarked. Skye raised her arms, trying to make the shards of ice fall from the air, but nothing happened. She groaned.


    "Hello-o! I said hailstorm!" Skye repeated. One thing was clear: her magic was rusty. The last time Skye tried to intentionally create ice was when she was thirteen, attempting to cool herself off in the middle of a heat wave. For that, she got caught by her parents and given a stern talking-to, so she hadn''t attempted to use her aura since then.


    Skye was wondering where her ice storm went until a moment later it hit her. "Skye!" Hyacinth yelled worriedly. Instead of raining down in smaller pellets, the hailstorm Skye summoned fell as one large block, dropping from the air and landing on her head. Skye gasped and staggered forward, rubbing her head through her beanie. "Oh my gosh! Do you have a concussion?" Hyacinth asked in a panicked voice. Skye shook her head.


    "Good. Should I heal you?" Hyacinth asked again, still slightly panicked but less so.


    "Yeah," Skye mumbled. Hyacinth took off Skye''s beanie and placed a hand on her injury, releasing a warm sensation that radiated through her skull. Almost at once, the pain in Skye''s head ebbed from a sharp throb to a dull ache. "Thanks," she said weakly. "Is this the end?"


    "Yes. Your evaluation is over," Hyacinth confirmed. "You may go now."


    "Thank you," Skye mumbled. She trudged into the crowd with her head drooped and her shoulders slumped. Wow. I screwed up horribly, she thought. There go my chances of becoming a mage—


    "Hey Skye!" The pigtailed telepath girl chirruped. She stuck her hand out as if expecting a handshake. "Name''s Alexis. Nice to meetcha!"


    "Hey." Skye hesitantly shook Alexis''s hand. "Did we just talk earlier, but without talking?"


    Alexis nodded and Skye''s eyes widened. "Wow. That was cool," Skye remarked, laughing nervously. "But next time, can you not stare into my soul like that? I was a bit freaked out, no offense."


    ***


    Cayto rolled over and opened his eyes, finding himself in a white-walled room with a closed window next to his bed. To the left of him were four more beds, all of them empty. Cayto stared at the floor, which was made out of plywood. He had a bit of an internal freakout after realizing that he didn''t know where he was. He didn''t get kidnapped again, did he?


    Cayto had no idea where he was or how he got here. All he knew was that he should probably leave. In an attempt to push himself out of bed, Cayto propped himself up with his elbow. A sharp pain jolted through his upper arm and side. He winced, breathing heavily. Ow.


    Cayto looked down at himself from underneath the blanket. His clothes from before were gone, replaced by a thin blue gown and a bandage wrapped around his chest and right shoulder. He tried again to leave his bed, but he could barely sit, let alone stand. His head felt cloudy, like he had just woke from a fever dream. What the hell happened to me?


    A few moments later, a young man about Cayto''s age entered the room. "Hey!" The visitor greeted him. He had a tall frame, blonde hair, and teal eyes. Cayto thought he might''ve seen this person before, but he couldn''t recall when or where since his mind was still quite foggy. "Is there anything you need?"


    "Not from you, that''s for sure," Cayto mumbled. "I just need to get out of here."


    The visitor cocked his head. "When you say "here," do you mean right here in the infirmary room, or do you mean Avriya as a whole?"


    "I mean both. Both are shit."


    "Not holding back, are you?" The visitor quipped. "Honestly, I can''t blame you. When you''ve spent all your life with parents as rich as yours, everything that''s not fine dining and servants and private jets is suddenly beneath yourself. Is that how you feel? Do you look on the entirety of Avriya and all of its people with disdain? Are you that mad about losing your wealth and needing to face reality like the rest of us peasants?"


    Cayto shook his head. "My dad was actually quite frugal, mind you." he uttered. "I still hate Avriya though."


    The visitor leaned forward, startling Cayto. "Why?"


    Cayto paused. Why do I hate Avriya? He thought. To state the obvious, it''s where I''m being held prisoner. "Because of the curses and aura manifestations," he finally said after thinking for a while. "Auras are an unstable source of magic and we shouldn''t be using them. They''re dangerous and illegal."


    The visitor stared at Cayto with a blank look of disapproval. "Come on. You''re literally here because you used your aura too much."


    "Wait what?" Cayto thought his brain might have short-circuited. There was no way he could have used his aura for anything other than shock tagging. Him? Practice that kind of magic? He wasn''t stupid. "I never did that!"


    "You totally did!" The guest shot back. "If you aren''t acting innocent and you really don''t know what I''m talking about, I''m guessing that the accident you went through might''ve given you brain damage. In that case, I''ll have to explain everything that has happened to you up until this point."


    Cayto sighed. "Talking to you gives me brain damage."


    "So…" the guest started, "five days ago, you signed up for Hyacinth''s aura level evaluation. Then for the following days leading up to it, you were practicing your magic. I''ve heard from Elliot that you''ve checked out three books from the library, all of them on the topic of lightning auras, and Juliana told me about your "practice" sessions. According to her, you would take your books and go out on the field multiple times a day so you could attempt your latest skill or whatever. I even passed you once or twice. You were putting on quite a show."


    Suddenly Cayto remembered that vague outline of an escape plan which he had, the one where he was going to train his aura at Silver Run Academy and fight back against the aura-havers. True, Cayto hated curses. But this plan could be his only chance to ever go home. "Was my practice good at least?"


    "What do you think?" The guest asked. "If you''ve messed up your trial so badly that you''ve shocked yourself and can''t remember a thing, do you really think your practice was any better? You should have seen yourself." The guest pulled out his phone and played a video of the lightning user on the field, and Cayto looked on in horror. He sat, petrified as he watched himself butcher every single move, becoming a living, breathing, lightning hazard for a grand total of two minutes and eighteen seconds. And to think that was only what was caught of himself on camera! "For a moment I thought you got possessed by the lightning demons, so at 0:45 I moved away and took the rest of the video from a safe distance," the guest added. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Cayto stared at the wall so hard he might as well have drilled a hole into it. "If you were so concerned for your safety, why didn''t you just stop the video?"


    The guest laughed. "I couldn''t. Watching you was like watching a car crash. Horrifying, yet oddly intriguing—"


    Cayto''s eyes narrowed. "You like watching car crashes?"


    "Not really, I guess it has more to do with morbid curiosity than actually enjoying what I''m seeing. It''s human nature to be fascinated by vehicular accidents, y''know. Why do you think the expression "it was like watching a train wreck: I couldn''t look away" exists? Why do so many movies have vehicles exploding or crashing or falling off the roads and rails in them? Why are bumper cars so popular at fairs and amusement parks? There''s your answer: people have a strange fixation on vehicles ramming into things. I hope my explanation was sufficient."


    Cayto gave the guest a blank stare. "You''re weird."


    The guest stared back. "No, you are."


    "Wait…" Cayto stared at the young man again, this time more intently. "Have I seen you before? All this talk of spiritual possession and vehicles reminded me of something. Over a week ago, I was at HACF. Then I saw a fainting man, and my memory blanked out afterwards. An unspecified amount of time later, I found myself in a van after I supposedly got controlled by said fainting man. Weren''t you one of the others in that van? I remember seeing someone who looked exactly like you."


    The young man smiled. "Yeah, I was there. I remember seeing you as well. You were throwing a tantrum and screaming about calling your dad—"


    Cayto''s fists clenched. "Don''t remind me."


    "Oh, I will," the guest said in a way that sounded both irritating and reassuring at the same time. "Anyway, I''m assuming now that you want to know my name. Right, Cayto?"


    Cayto nodded. "Right."


    The guest stuck out his hand. "I''m Ivan, nice to meet you," he finally said. "I''ll be back next time I have infirmary duty."


    Cayto shook Ivan''s hand. "Thanks for checking in on me.”


    ***


    That night, Cayto fought back tears and wrapped his arms around his pillow, burying his face in it. "Die! Die! Die!" The voices from the field shouted, reverberating through Cayto''s mind, forcing him awake when all he wanted to do was sleep. As much as he willed the voices to stop, the taunts of the aura-bearers wouldn''t leave him alone. Instead they dragged on, intermingling with other voices. One of them was the stern voice of his father, which normally would have brought Cayto back to his senses, but this time stung him all the more:


    "Quit crying like a baby, you''re embarrassing yourself." Cayto could hear Martin say, his booming voice echoing in his ears. "You''re the next leader of Halifax Industries, not some stupid little girl. If you''re going to act all gross like that, nobody will take you seriously."


    Cayto knew Mr Halifax was right. He desperately wished he could stop crying like his father would have told him to, but it was no use. Instead he shoved his face further into his pillow, squeezing it tightly. Maybe if he got lucky, he''d suffocate himself to death. He''d be more valuable dead than alive, right? The Avriyans, his mother, didn''t they all wish him to disappear off the face of the earth?


    9 years ago:


    Martin lurched forward and gasped in pain. Both his shirt and his skin were burnt, and Cayto stared at him with huge violet eyes. "D-did I do that?" The child stuttered. "I''m sorry daddy, I''m sorry!"


    "I… expected…. better from you…" Mr Halifax sputtered between breaths. He put up a hand as if to say "give me a moment," and Cayto stood still. "Don''t let mommy know…"


    Suddenly Sierra burst into the room, her eyes aflame. "Martin!" She screamed. "I knew it was only a matter of time!"


    Martin looked up at his wife, his face calm and unaffected. "Sierra, there''s no need to work yourself up. I can handle this, I swear—"


    But Sierra was having none of it. "That demon!" She screeched, pointing at Cayto with a trembling hand. "You knew you should have listened to me when I told you to get rid of him, but no, you just had to ignore my warnings! Now look at yourself!"


    Martin''s face contorted for a moment after he brushed against his burn. But his expression returned to neutral, though he remained hunched over from the impact of the shock. "Sierra," he said earnestly, "Cayto may be an aura-haver, but he''s still a good kid. That doesn''t change because he accidentally struck me once."


    Sierra crossed her arms. "Cayto?! Good?! How?!"


    "Have you seen our son?" Martin shot back. "You know better than anyone how he is! He''s honest, hardworking, and always doing his best to make us proud. But maybe he''s a bit too honest…" Martin laughed weakly, and Cayto glanced at his parents in confusion. "Though I''m aware of the damage that auras have done, I know we should keep Cayto around because his electricity is the curse to end all curses. Shock tags wouldn''t exist if it weren''t for his lightning aura, and look at how great we''re doing thanks to them! Halifax Industry''s profits have increased twofold, the rate of aura manifestation is down by 65% in Skypoint, and we''re getting more investors than ever before. Is that not what you want?"


    Sierra''s eyes narrowed. "Numbers!" She shrieked, her voice piercing the air. "Numbers! Is that all you care about?! What about our safety?! Our integrity?! Don''t you see how hypocritical we look when we speak of the evils of curses, only to use them ourselves as a means to an end?!" As Sierra was ranting, Martin stared at her blankly and Cayto shrunk into a corner. "Martin, Cayto, both of you! You''re unbelievable!"


    Cayto stepped in to confront his mother, his legs shaking. "I''m sorry for hurting daddy," he confessed, "I only wanted to hug him, but then the sparks shot out of my hands and did this…"


    "Sorry? Sorry?! THE HELL YOU MEAN, SORRY?!" Sierra fumed. "This may not be the first time you pulled off this shit, but I''ll make SURE it''s your last! Now stand right there and don''t say a word so I can beat every last bit of that lightning curse out of you!" Sierra screeched at Cayto. "And don''t you DARE fight back!"


    The first blow came to Cayto''s face. He flinched, and blood trickled down from his nose. The boy felt his electricity crackle inside him again, so he held his breath to prevent it from getting out and shocking his mother. He couldn''t make her hate him more than she already did, or else his father would be disappointed in him too, and he''d be forced to stay in his room or skip dinner. But just as Cayto was about to lose control of himself, Martin stepped in:


    "Stop. If you beat him any longer, he''s going to hurt you," Martin warned Sierra. Sierra begrudgingly drew her hand away from Cayto but kept her glare fixated on the child. After she finally put enough distance between him and herself, the boy exhaled and unclenched his right fist. In horror, he stared at the sparks flying out of his palm.


    ***


    Cayto drifted back to the present. He no longer was trying to choke himself with a pillow, but instead was lying on his back. It was pitch dark outside, and the digital clock on the windowsill displayed the time next to him: 2:47 am. Cayto hadn''t gotten a good night''s sleep since he first arrived at Avriya, and his injuries from the trial, the harassment from other aura-havers, and his fear of falling behind once he got home weren''t helping him either. For all he knew, his parents would''ve thought he was being irresponsible or lazy by running away from them when that was far from reality. True, they were tough on him, but Cayto wasn''t a wimp. He was still determined to prove himself, just like his father would have wanted of him. "If anybody disrespects you," Martin had told him, "you must prove them wrong. Don''t cry or scream or let your emotions get the best of you. Simply do what you have to do to change their mind."


    Cayto was not going to become one of those degenerate curse-bearers Sierra thought he was. That''s why he was working so hard to find a way out of Avriya. Then once he escaped Avriya, he would expose its secrets for all to see, and the unregulated curse-bearers who infested this place would face justice. If Cayto went through with that, he''d be proving himself as someone good and his mother would have one less reason to disrespect him. Additionally, he knew that no matter what happened, he''d never become one of them. Cayto was a Halifax first and a curse-bearer last.


    But at the back of his mind was a single voice, a soft yet persistent whisper which he ever-so-desperately tried to ignore. But you already are one of them, it nagged. The moment you decided to teach yourself aura magic, you became a criminal. There''s no returning from that.


    ***


    "Hey, have you heard?" Skye''s father asked as he walked in his daughter''s room. "Your mom and I enrolled you in a new school. Newham High, I think it''s called. Ivan told us about it, and supposedly their policies on aura-havers are more relaxed than Springs."


    "Cool!" Skye responded as she rocked in her chair. The afternoon light poured in from her window, and a lilac-colored blanket draped her bed. On her bookshelf stood a single lamp, switched off for the afternoon. Though Skye''s face remained more or less neutral, inwardly she was smiling. A lot. Enrolling in Newham High was all part of the larger plan Ivan had set for her so she could become a mage at Silver Run Academy.


    As it turned out, Avriya wasn''t the only gathering spot of the last mages, though it was their main base. They actually ran a (not literally) underground network spanning the entirety of Cloudgate which included a few sister schools of Silver Run Academy. One of those sister schools was Newham, which was open to the public but secretly tied with SRA. If a student enrolled at SRA, they could also enroll in Newham or any other sister school, so a diploma from Silver Run Academy would directly translate to a diploma from one of those sister schools. Under this system, Skye could receive her education at SRA, learn magic, and not be questioned by her parents or Cloudgate''s authorities. She''d simply be registered as a Newham student, avoiding suspicion.


    Suddenly Skye''s phone pinged, and she reached for it on her nightstand. The lock screen had one new notification, which was a text from Ivan. Trial results are in, it read.


    What are mine? Skye texted back.


    Skye received another text from Ivan. I have bad news, the text read, followed by a sad face. Skye''s heart dropped, but then a new message appeared on her screen: You''re in the beginners group.


    Skye held back a chuckle. Beginner''s group? That wasn''t bad at all! She already set her expectations so low after her failed performance that simply getting into any class was a pleasant surprise for her. That''s not bad news! Skye responded. Just being in a group is enough for me.


    Beginner. Beginner 1. Ivan replied. If words on a screen could appear ominous, Ivan''s text most certainly did.


    Skye laughed. What, were you expecting me to make Advanced 3 on the first try? I may not be a pro right away, but Beginner 1 is a good start! She replied.


    While Skye was looking down at her phone, her mother barged into her room. "Smiling at your phone, I see?" She asked. "Do you have a boyfriend?"


    Skye shook her head. "Do I look like I''m able to get one?"


    "Don''t say that about yourself! You''re a lot cuter than you think you are," Maia reassured. Skye shrugged. "What was it you were smiling at?"


    Oh shit. She''s gonna find out, Skye thought to herself. For a moment Skye panicked, but then she quickly switched her screen to some random pun about bread she had saved on her phone and showed it to her mom. "Here it is."


    Maia laughed. "Haha. Funny. Cliche but funny," she said. Then Maia left, and Skye let out a breath she didn''t know she was holding. Whew. Crisis averted. Skye thought. Then she received another text from Ivan:


    Thought you knew everything when it came to magic, but I was wrong, the text read, followed by a sad face. Guess you''re not as big of a mage nerd as I thought you were.


    "Mage nerd" lol, Skye texted back. It would be cool if I qualified as an actual mage, but alas, I am but a lowly mage nerd.